The practice – unpopular with many drivers but welcomed by many safety advocates – appeared to be suffering on Tuesday from publicists seeking to repeal it. The Economic Committee of the Municipal Council was going to vote this morning for the critic of the mayor Ald. Anthony Beale’s proposal to reset the speed camera ticket and raise the ticket limit to 10 mph above the speed limit, as it used to be. The meeting was adjourned until the afternoon, but before councilors could convene, Lightfoot issued a statement acknowledging that Bill’s ordinance could be removed from the committee and urging councilors to reject the change. “The Finance Committee is ready to allow increased speeds near schools and parks throughout the city,” Lightfoot wrote in a statement. “I urge City Council members to vote no to this dangerous decree, which is being promoted by Aldermen Beale, (Ed) Burke and (Raymond) Lopez.” The mayor added that fatal road accidents have increased in the last two years and warned that passing the Beale proposal would mean cutting public safety, infrastructure and safe-haven programs by nearly $ 45 million. “It is unconscious that any City Council member would consider voting to allow increased speeds near places used by our children,” Lightfoot said. “… I urge all residents to call their citizens and tell them to vote no. We are all responsible for the protection of our children, pedestrians and cyclists. “It’s a matter of life and death – people have to slow down.” [ Read the Tribune’s investigation into speed cameras here. ] The committee discussed the plan last week, but amid much criticism of Lightfoot standards, committee chairman Ald. Scott Waguespack adjourned without a vote until Tuesday. This led supporters of Beale’s decree to claim that Waguespack was buying the mayor time to line up votes to defeat him. A speed camera can be seen on West Lawrence Avenue, August 2, 2021, in Chicago. This camera captured the second most speeds after Mayor Lori Lightfoot started issuing tickets to motorists driving just 6 miles per hour above the speed limit. (Erin Hooley / Chicago Tribune) Lightfoot cut the minimum speeding ticket as part of its 2021 budget, saying it would make the city’s roads safer and saying it did not do so to raise more money. Although she campaigned on her commitment to end Chicago’s “addiction” to fines and fees, the mayor said safety issues, such as speeding, deserved tougher enforcement. However, the new standards have proved profitable and have drawn strong criticism from Beale and others who argue that the mayor is trying to balance Chicago books on the backs of poor and working people who can not afford the new $ 35 tickets at a time. destroyed. Subscribe to The Spin to receive the top politics stories delivered to your inbox on weekday afternoons. The city shipped more than 1.6 million of the $ 35 speed camera tickets in 2021, even though Lightfoot’s new rules went into effect before March. In the first two months alone, the city issued $ 11 million in fines for those caught exceeding 6 to 10 mph, according to a Tribune survey. Nearly 900,000 warnings were also sent to drivers who were caught accelerating to 6 to 9 mph very fast a month before the lower limit started. Drivers are also charged $ 35 if their cameras catch them doing 10 mph above the limit and $ 100 tickets go out to those who catch 11 mph or more very quickly. Mayor Rahm Emanuel has put these speed cameras in safety zones around parks and schools, and Beale’s decree will return to them. It would be rare for Lightfoot to see such a key initiative reversed, but MPs are ready to be re-elected early next year – as is the mayor herself – and this vote puts them in a difficult position. The camera is installed around parks and schools where more walkers, cyclists and children are likely to be found. And while pedestrian and bicycle safety organizations tend to support the 6-mile-minimum ticket because they make motorists slow down, many Chicago drivers are outraged by another example of the city, and publics complain that the cameras are often not too close. in schools or parks. Lightfoot included the change in its huge budget package for 2021, so city councilors did not have to vote on it specifically then. They are now forced to choose sides in a divisive issue, shortly before many of them face the electorate. If Finance approves the Beale decree on Tuesday, the full City Council will have to consider it on Wednesday. Lopez is among many contenders seeking to overtake Lightfoot next year. Burke, the council’s longest-serving councilor, is awaiting trial on federal corruption charges.
